This is part three of the “Trading the Big 3… series which has previously examined possible returns for Sam Reinhart and Rasmus Ristolainen. This prospective trade of captain Jack Eichel would be by far the most important trade of the three and, frankly, it would be biggest potential trade in a generation. Therefore, it is imperative that General Manager Kevyn Adams let the situation unfold a little further before undertaking serious offers. Adams said in his year-end press conference that Eichel’s rehabilitation time would take him to the end of May or beginning of June. At that time, either the Sabres doctors will either medically clear him to play or perhaps he will be cleared for surgery. The Sabres need to receive high-end prospects and picks in a deal and likely will not receive adequate offers on a trade with the injury issue up in the air. That situation should be resolved before seriously entertaining subpar tire-kicking offers. It is also worth mentioning that Jack Eichel is under contract for five more years. If the offers are not there, then Adams needs to wait until they are. That may mean pacifying Eichel this summer, allowing him to get the surgery he wants and letting him play next year healthy and happy. It is even possible that the relationship between Eichel and the organization would be repaired by following through on this course of action. I have no interest in listing Eichel’s statistics and graphs to show how good Eichel truly is when he is healthy and ready to go, and I also have no interest in discussing various narratives surrounding Jack Eichel or reasons why teams would not want to acquire him. The latter is all smoke and mirrors (almost certainly driven by thirsty GMs who covet Jack Eichel) to drive down the price. Anyone who has watched Eichel play knows that he is a top-10 center in the NHL when he is right. I find especially ludicrous the notion that the Sabres will not receive a team’s top prospect in a Jack Eichel deal. That is flat-out ridiculous. Adams’s message to other GMs needs to be this: “If you want Jack Eichel, you do not have untouchable prospects.… That condition needs to be accepted and understood prior to any serious negotiation concerning Eichel. The rest of the excuses and bogus narratives can be thrown in the dumpster later this spring/early summer when the medical piece is made somewhat clearer following the end of his rehab. If a team wants Jack Eichel, they better come hard to get him. Having said all that, it is time to trade the best player to wear the Blue and Gold since Dominik Hasek. In general, the format of these trade offers will be as follows: Blue-chip center prospect, 1st round pick, blue chip prospect and a salary offset.
Los Angeles Kings: Sending Eichel out west would be great for the Sabres so they do not have to see him as often. He will return to form when healthy and go back to playing above a point-per-game and the Sabres will not want that in the Eastern Conference. Playing him only twice a year would be great. The Kings have plenty of good talent to choose from and it’ll start with Quinton Byfield. Byfield, a center, was drafted 2nd overall in the 2020 NHL draft out of the Ontario Hockey League where he put up 82 points in 45 games. That piece will give the Sabres their blue-chip center prospect. From there, we move on to Alex Turcotte whom the Kings selected 5th overall in 2019. The 5’11… center put up a very respectable 21 points in 32 games playing among men in the AHL with the Ontario Reign this year. The Sabres are going to need to eat some bad salary here, and in this case, it comes in the form of formerly good but currently bad, old goaltender Jonathan Quick and his $5.8 million cap hit which extends for the next two years. The Sabres will also accept Olli Mà¤à¤ttठand his $3.33m salary (Chicago has retained $750k on Mà¤à¤ttठpreviously). Final Trade: The Sabres trade Jack Eichel for Quinton Byfield, Alex Turcotte, Olli Mà¤à¤ttà¤, Jonathan Quick and LA Kings 2021 1st round pick.
Anaheim Ducks: The Ducks are in a similar situation to the Kings as it pertains to prospects in their organization which once again gives the Sabres plenty of quality pieces to choose from. The first piece will be the left-shooting center taken one spot after Dylan Cozens in the 2020 NHL draft: Trevor Zegras. He put up an incredibly impressive 21 points in 17 games in the AHL this year while also potting 13 points in 24 games for Ducks. That’s the blue-chip center prospect. From there, we move on to Jamie Drysdale whom the Ducks selected 6th overall less than a year ago. The mobile defenseman had a cup of coffee with the big club this year and netted 8 points in 24 games. Eating dead cap space here is incredibly difficult as the Ducks have a plethora of players with modified no-trade clauses and these players would presumably have the Sabres on their no-trade list. Additional negotiation is required but it is hard to determine what money could return to the Sabres (so by all means give me suggestions in the comments). Final Trade: The Buffalo Sabres trade Jack Eichel for Trevor Zegras, Jamie Drysdale and the Ducks 2021 1st round pick and undetermined bad contracts.
Vancouver Canucks: This one is going to get a little wild and it is going to involve a lot of pieces. The Canucks are much like the Sabres in the respect that they are spending a lot against the cap and are not seeing a very good return on that investment. They have their own version of Kyle Okposo in Loui Eriksson who makes way too much money and produces like the old vet he is. We are going to bank on Eriksson accepting a ticket out of town to Buffalo – despite owning a modified no-trade clause – in an attempt to at least play hockey in the NHL instead of potentially being buried in the minors if the taxi squad concept is eliminated next year. The Sabres are going to accept Eriksson and Tanner Pearson to the tune of $9.75 million. With that awfulness out of the way, we are going to get to the good parts; the first of which is 22-year-old Elias Petterson. With 66 points in 68 games in 2019-2020, Petterson is well on his way to being a star in his own right. The question is obviously this: Why the Canucks would move on from a productive young center playing on a team-friendly deal? As previously mentioned, the Canucks need a shakeup as badly as the Sabres. From there, the Sabres will add promising young talent Nils Höglander (see the Trading Sam Reinhart article for more on him). Lastly, the Canucks will include their 1st round pick. In an effort to balance the trade, the Sabres will send Will Borgen to Vancouver. Losing Borgen hurts a bit, but a good trade should hurt. If the Canucks want to lower the pick sent Buffalo’s way, they could look elsewhere to dump the cap of Eriksson and Pearson. Without that bit, perhaps the pick becomes a 2nd instead of a 1st. As is, the Sabres will receive a 2022 1st round pick (top-3 protected) rather than a 1st this year. Final Trade: The Buffalo Sabres trade Jack Eichel and Will Borgen to the Vancouver Canucks for Loui Eriksson, Tanner Pearson, Elias Petterson, Nils Höglander and their 2022 1st round pick.
The Sabres must operate as if they do not need to trade Eichel, because in reality, they do not need to trade Eichel. He is under contract for five more years and if he wants to play hardball then he can suit up in Switzerland until the 2026-2027 season if he’d like. Premier players of his caliber do not become available very often and the Sabres need to internalize this and slow-play the situation which may mean holding off on even discussing his situation with other clubs if the offers are not there due to injury right now. While it is true that he has a no-trade clause which will kick in next summer, that is not the end-of-the-world scenario it is sometimes seen as. Offers would be enormous at the 2022 NHL Entry Draft assuming Eichel plays a full season for the Sabres this year.
The Sabres simply cannot trade Eichel for anything less than a king’s ransom.